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Forest of Funerals – Chapter 9: Recruited

“Wi-will the lo-lord demon king…… e-eat me?” Chirae fidgeted nervously. She looked completely different from that monster that was tearing apart demons. Seeing this, a glint of interest appeared in Weiss’s eyes.

“Just now you entered a berserk state.”

“I, I see. No wonder I feel so tired.”

“Hm? Were you unconscious?”

“My memories of when I go berserk are very blurry. So, I can’t even control my body when that happens. If I had offended lord demon lord just now, please forgive me. I don’t want to die yet.” Chirae curled up into the fetal position as she spoke.

Even though Weiss really felt like kicking her, he reigned in his urges. He was just too curious about her.

“But you’re an elf aren’t you? As far as I know, elves don’t have a berserk mode. Only creatures with extremely vigorous qi and blood had a berserk state. For example, ogres, beastmen and trolls. Basically all those that weren’t easy to eat. But elves weren’t one of them.

Chirae lifted her head and looked at Weiss. Seeing that he wasn’t about to eat her, she sighed in relief and began explaining.

“I-in truth, among the elves, I’m the only with a berserk mode.”

“Oh? And why is that?”

“L-lord demon lord, my berserk mode is different from the normal ones. Even though I don’t know exactly how strong it is, it’s definitely much more powerful than others. Also, no one knows why I’m like this.”
When it came to her strength, the disfigured corpses of demons were prime evidence.
”
“Now that I think about, why would a humanoid be in the Forest of Funerals? The Elven Empire may be right next door, but you still almost became someone’s lunch.”

“I, I’m currently on holiday. I didn’t expect the demons inside this forest to be so scary!”

“Fear begets fear. But in terms of magic, you should be at the level of a master.”

“I am!”

“If you played your cards right, you’d be able to match up to a demon lord. How’d you get caught by those trash?

“They looked really scary……”

“You really are a strange elf. Anyway, back on topic, you’re one of the subordinates of the great demon king now!”

“Huh? Huuuuuuuh!? B-but I haven’t even said anything!”

Even though the elf was shocked and anxious, for fear of pissing off the demon lord in front of her, she kept her volume low.

“Don’t be mistaken. Becoming a subordinate of the great demon king isn’t a matter of your willingness. It’s a matter of my mood.”

Weiss pressed on Chirae’s forehead with his finger. Soon, a faint red mark began to appear. Feeling the pain, the elf grasped her forehead with her hands.

“Wu…… Ch-chirae still wants to go to the Human World…”

“To the human world?” Weiss’s expression stiffened. Then, he suddenly thought of something funny and immediately followed up.
“You aren’t actually thinking of passing through the Forest of Funerals and heading back to the Elven Empire by yourself are you?”

“Y-yes I am. Is there a problem?”

“Nope! H-urk-pft, No problem at all! Gahahahahahahaha……………” After saying that there was nothing wrong, Weiss broke into hysterical laughter. His reaction caused Chirae to pout. She had once been laughed at to a similar extent by a colleague. In fact, Weiss’s image was currently overlapping with that colleague right now. And as angry as she was, she couldn’t say a single thing.

“H-ha ha~…You might be poor in the chest, but your ambitions are lofty and great[1]! Little fellow, you are worthy of praise. Having dreams is a great thing!”

“Poor in the chest?

“Yeap poor in the chest, just like an ironing board. Don’t you get what it means? It means you have no breasts whatsoever and your chest is an insult to the term woman.”

Then, what Weiss called “little fellow” a little while ago, turned into a giant mountain. What happened next scarred the little ferret who was still hiding in the bushes for life. It left him plagued by nightmares.

[1]:A similar line(which I can’t remember exactly) is often used in old chinese dramas and operas which include a poor scholar. Something along the line of, “I might be poor, but I have my dreams” to someone of a much higher position that is mocking and/or oppressing them with status. For some reason, those people think having high targets is worthy of praise. Ancient world logic I guess. Anyway, here, Weiss is parodying those lines.